In the learned journal, in the influential newspaper, I discern no form; only some irresponsible shadow; oftener some monied corpo...ration, or some dangler, who hopes, in the mask and robes of his paragraph, to pass for somebody. But through every clause and part of speech of the right book I meet the eyes of the most determined men; his force and terror inundate every word: the commas and dashes are alive; so that the writing is athletic and nimble,--can go far and live long.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

When I see young men doing so wonderfully well in athletics, I don't feel angry at them. I feel jealous of them. I wish that some ...of my boys in writing would do the same thing.... You must have form--performance. The thing itself is indescribable, but it is felt like athletic form. To have form, feel form in sports--and by analogy feel form in verse. One works and waits for form in both. As I said, the person who spends his time criticizing the play around him will never write poetry. He will write criticism.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

If for Americans, at least, the Great War could sometimes be imagined as a brief, quasi-athletic lark, the Second War permitted no... such melioration by the spirit of adolescent optimism. In North Africa alone, the 1st Infantry Division spent more time in mortal contact with the enemy than all the time it spent--forming up, marching, drawing equipment, lining up at the mess hall, training, bitching--in all of the First World War. And on December 7, 1941, the American navy lost in one day more men killed--2008, to be exact--than in all the days of the earlier war. The Second World War, total and global as it was, killed worldwide, more civilian men, women, and children than soldiers, sailors, and airmen. And compared with the idiocies of Verdun, Gallipoli, or Tannenberg, it was indescribably cruel and insane. It was not until the Second World War had enacted all its madness that one could realize how near Victorian social and ethical norms the First World War really was.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

In everything from athletic ability to popularity to looks, brains, and clothes, children rank themselves against others. At this ...age [7 and 8], children can tell you with amazing accuracy who has the coolest clothes, who tells the biggest lies, who is the best reader, who runs the fastest, and who is the most popular boy in the third grade.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

Each child has his own individual expressions to offer to the world. That expression can take many forms, from artistic interests,... a way of thinking, athletic activities, a particular style of dressing, musical talents, different hobbies, etc. Our job is to join our children in discovering who they are.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

Just as Michelangelo saw the "David" in the raw, unformed block of marble before he struck it with his chisel, we as parents can i...magine the fine adult human beings who will emerge from our children's growing, evolving selves. By holding this image in our minds, we can, through our encouragement, nurture our children to blossom into their fullest potential. Each child has his own individual expressions to offer to the world. That expression can take many forms, from artistic interests, a way of thinking, athletic activities, a particular style of dressing, musical talents, different hobbies, etc. Our job is to join our children in discovering who they are.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

He was the product of an English public school and university. He was, moreover, a modern product of those seats of athletic exerc...ise. He had little education and highly developed muscles--that is to say, he was no scholar, but essentially a gentleman.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »